


The Ring

by MrProphet



Category: Bagpuss, Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 04:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10689987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Ring

_“Once upon a time_   
_Not so long ago_   
_There was a little girl and her name was Emily_   
_And she had a shop._

_“It was rather an unusual shop because it didn't sell anything_   
_You see, everything in that shop window was a thing that somebody had once lost_   
_And Emily had found_   
_And brought home to Bagpuss_   
_Emily's cat Bagpuss_   
_The most Important_   
_The most Beautiful_   
_The most Magical_   
_Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world._

_“Well now, one day Emily found a thing_   
_And she brought it back to the shop_   
_And put it down in front of Bagpuss_   
_Who was in the shop window fast asleep as usual_   
_But then Emily said some magic words:_

_“‘Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss_   
_Old fat furry cat-puss_   
_Wake up and look at this thing that I bring_   
_Wake up, be bright_   
_Be golden and light_   
_Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing.’_   
_“And Bagpuss was wide awake_   
_And when Bagpuss wakes up all his friends wake up too_   
_The mice on the mouse-organ woke up and stretched_   
_Madeleine, the rag doll_   
_Gabriel, the toad_   
_And last of all, Professor Yaffle, who was a very distinguished old woodpecker_   
_He climbed down off his bookend and went to see what it was that Emily had brought.”_

“Well, well, well; isn’t this a pretty thing,” Professor Yaffle mused.

“It’s a ring,” Charlie Mouse said.

“A green ring,” Janey Mouse agreed.

“It’s  _glowing_ ,” Eddie Mouse added.

The ring lay on shelf in the usual place in front of Bagpuss. It was a large ring of the type that is called a signet ring, and it bore a strange symbol; a circle between two horizontal lines. The metal was green, and it glowed with a soft light, but the circle of the ring was bent and the light flickered uncertainly.

“What is it?” Jenny Mouse asked.

“It’s a power ring of the Green Lantern Corps,” Professor Yaffle replied, “both the symbol and the weapon of the protectors of the galaxy. Mice; won’t you fetch down volume nine of the Encyclopaedia Galactica from my bookshelf and I can tell you all about them.”

Quickly, the mice scaled the shelves to reach the stack of books behind Professor Yaffle’s bookend. Jenny Mouse and Willie Mouse climbed up to the top of a large, blue book and hung from the top until it tipped outwards.

Then the mice worked together to slide the book free of the shelf and haul it down to Professor Yaffle.

“Heave!” they chorused. “Heave!”

They laid the book on the window shelf and Professor Yaffle opened it towards the middle; to the entry headed:  _Green Lantern Corps_.

Professor Yaffle read: 

“Our story begins at the heart of all things,  
In a time of destruction and worse,  
When Krona of Maltus bent time in a loop,  
And brought chaos to the multiverse.

From Maltus they fled to the planet of Oa,  
At the centre of all that there was,  
And swore to be Guardians of the Universe,  
And fight against cosmic chaos. 

To battle the forces of evil and harm,  
They built a dire resource,  
An army of android Manhunters,  
To conquer evil with force. 

Their charge to hunt down evil was,  
But they forgot the why,  
No man escapes the Manhunters,  
Became their battle cry. 

And so these mighty robot slaves,  
Rose up against all life,  
And where they were charged to bring order and peace,  
Their presence brought nothing but strife. 

And so the Guardians wrung their hands,  
And sought to make amends,  
By gathering the champions of the mortal worlds,  
To serve the Guardians’ ends. 

But mortal hand has not the strength,  
To battle evil’s might,  
And so the champions were imbued,  
With the strength of willpower’s light. 

On ancient worlds the peace was kept,  
By watchmen without blame,  
Who walked the night by the flickering light,  
Of a green and brilliant flame. 

So lanterns green the Guardians forged,  
To bear the light of good,  
And power rings to shape the light,  
As each Green Lantern would. 

And swear the champions did to serve,  
A very solemn oath,  
That they should stand forever true,  
Against evil and chaos both. 

“And this was the oath that they swore:  
‘I shall shed my light over dark evil.  
For dark things can not stand the light,  
The light of the Green Lantern.’” 

With that, Professor Yaffle closed the book. “And there you have it. This is a power ring of the Green Lantern Corps, built to channel the green light of willpower in the fight against evil. It must have belonged to one of the two Green Lanterns assigned to Sector 2814.”

The mice stared in wonder. “Oo,” they chorused.

“What are Green Lanterns like?” Charlie Mouse wondered.

“We can tell you that,” Gabriel said. “In fact, we can do better. We can  _show_  you. There’s a roll of music for the Mouse Organ.”

“Is there?” the mice asked. “Is there?”

“Yes, mice, there is,” Madeleine laughed. “You’ll find it in the left hand drawer.”

Excitedly the mice ran to the Mouse Organ and hoisted up the musical roll. When they were ready, Jenny Mouse stood atop the organ and announced: “The marvellous, mechanical, Mouse Organ!”  
The mice began to pump the bellows, Gabriel began to play his banjo and Madeleine began to sing:

“Hal Jordan tested fighter planes,  
With no fear of peril or flames.  
His will was firm his heart untamed,  
He had in him…  
Green Lantern’s Light!

One day he saw a falling star  
And followed over mountains far,  
To see a brilliance lying hard  
Against the hill…  
Green Lantern’s Light!

Abin Sur, a Lantern Green,  
Was dying there upon that scene,  
Bade Hal become what he had been,  
A bearer of…  
Green Lantern’s Light!

The Power Ring upon his hand,  
The Battery by him did stand.  
To show that he did understand,  
Hal swore the oath…  
Green Lantern’s Light!

In brightest day, in blackest night,  
No evil shall escape my sight.  
Let those who worship evil’s might,  
Beware my power…  
Green Lantern’s Light!

“Hal Jordan had the two qualities necessary in a Green Lantern,” Madeleine explained. “He had the courage to overcome fear and the strength of will to control the light through the Power Ring.”

“But that ring couldn’t control anything, all bent like that,” Gabriel said. “It’s certainly been through the wars. Mice, you need to straighten it so that it can find its new owner.”

“We will straighten it!” the mice chorused, and then Janey Mouse began to sing:

We will mend it, we’ll unbend it,  
We will set it to right, right, right.  
We’ll recharge it, not enlarge it,  
With Green Lantern’s light, light, light.

And then the other mice joined in as a round and they sang again: 

We will mend it, we’ll unbend it,  
We will set it to right, right, right.  
We’ll recharge it, not enlarge it,  
With Green Lantern’s light, light, light.

“Good work, mice,” Bagpuss said approvingly. That looks very fine, and it’s glowing beautifully. I think it must be properly charged now. Why don’t you put in the window so that it can see the people passing by.”

They pushed the Power Ring into the window, in case a person with a will of iron and a heart without fear should happen to come by, and come in to be collected by it.

 _“Bagpuss gave a big yawn, and settled down to sleep_  
_And of course when Bagpuss goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep too_  
_The mice were ornaments on the mouse-organ_  
_Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls_  
_And Professor Yaffle was a carved wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker_  
_Even Bagpuss himself once he was asleep was just an old, saggy cloth cat_  
_Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams_  
_But Emily loved him.”_


End file.
